GSP vs. Penn a Title Fight!?

it has been reported that the GSP vs Penn fight will be for the Welterweight title. does this piss off anyone but me? of course i want to see them fight that is a no brainer and it would be nice to see it go 5 rounds instead of 3 if it goes to a decision. but if Penn wins, it will suck for us as viewers and the fighters in both divisions! he will spend to much time going back and fourth between the weights and it will take forever for him to defend either belt. one division will have to almost be put on pause as far as contenders getting their shot becuase it would take too much time with him being in the other weight class. say he fights every 4 months which is realistic IMO. that would only be three title fights in one year, and one weight class would only have ONE of those title fights in the year!i don't know how credible the source is but i really hope thats not true.Any thoughts?

Naturaldisaster

10/21/08 3:06:41AM

yeah it pisses me off because Penn can be the WW champ (I dont think he will be GSP), but he can fight at 170. however GSP CANNOT fight at LW. so how is it fair that GSP has to defend his title, but BJ's LW title is safe Win or Lose.

ohiostate1016

10/21/08 8:45:31AM

This isn't pro wrestling - they're not going to have a title-for-title fight. If the fight is fought at WW, then it should be for the WW title. If BJ goes for - and wins - the WW title, then he should give up the LW title and fight in the WW division (or he could just say that he wants this to be a non-title fight if he wants to keep fighting in the LW division).

jomatty

10/21/08 10:25:38AM

not fair? gsp cant fight at 155 but penn can fight at 170, there is nothing more fair than that. you cant defend the lw title against someone who weighs 170 pounds so that is a silly silly arguement

Gweedo

10/21/08 10:27:52AM

it better b 4 a belt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AchillesHeel

10/21/08 11:33:39AM

The only drawback I see to one guy holding two belts is that, as Biggz said, it could delay subsequent title fights in one or both weight divisions.

A non-title fight would be inappropriate here, and not just because of the extra two rounds (I think they could agree to a 5-round, non-title fight, if they wanted to). The problem there for me is that a non-title fight would feel like an exhibition match, like Matt Hughes against Royce Gracie. The belts that champions wear reflect their standing among their peers, they don't confer it; a fight between two champions is a fight between two champions, and calling it a non-title fight would just be dishonest.

Another issue is whether or not Penn is "jumping the line" to a title fight, but I don't really feel that he is, at least not enough to bother me. After Fitch, nobody at 170 looks like an automatic contender to me. You could argue that Penn should have to go through the formality of defeating another 170-lb contender to earn a title shot, but you could also argue that he just did that, with his win over Sean Sherk.

The only solution I see (to a problem that is only theoretical, at the moment) is to bar current belt-holders from participating in a title fight at another weight. You couldn't strip a champion of his belt, because as I say, the belt reflects his standing; if you took away his belt for such a bureaucratic reason, Penn would still be the best Lightweight in the UFC. We see this now, in the Heavyweight division, where Couture-vs-Nogueira is the real title match and these preliminary matches are a bit of a farce.

Besides, a rematch between Penn and GSP is going to be #$%@ing awesome. And isn't that ultimately the point?

Posted by Naturaldisaster

yeah it pisses me off because Penn can be the WW champ (I dont think he will be GSP), but he can fight at 170. however GSP CANNOT fight at LW. so how is it fair that GSP has to defend his title, but BJ's LW title is safe Win or Lose.

Um...

Posted by jomatty

not fair? gsp cant fight at 155 but penn can fight at 170, there is nothing more fair than that. you cant defend the lw title against someone who weighs 170 pounds so that is a silly silly arguement

Right.

Franklinfan47

10/21/08 11:52:05AM

Anderson Silva, the man who the ufc has been preaching as the p4p best fighter in the world moves up in weight and fights James Irvin. While being a fighter I like, Irvin is a gatekeeper at best.

BJ Penn, a fighter I currently have ranked as the fourth p4p fighter in the world, moves up in weight and gets an immediate title shot against George St. Pierre, the greatest welterweight in the sport today. The same BJ Penn who lost to both St. Pierre and Hughes consecutively the last time he was at 170.

So the ufc feels the best p4p fighter in the world was not title-shot worthy, while Penn, who couldn't even beat Hughes at 170, is ushered into immediate title contention.

hmmmmm.

I think GSP will beat Penn once again, so this doesnt bother me all that much, but there is the concern as previously stated that if Penn does win, the title fight process in ww and lw will be considerably delayed, which would be unfortunate as people complain theres not enough title fights as it is.

jcsambo

10/21/08 1:53:31PM

Hard to decide here, Penn vs GSP.

-http://jcsambo.blogspot.com

MMAcca

10/21/08 4:41:26PM

Posted by Gweedo

it better b 4 a belt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is

Biggz

10/21/08 6:53:01PM

Posted by Franklinfan47

BJ Penn, a fighter I currently have ranked as the fourth p4p fighter in the world, moves up in weight and gets an immediate title shot against George St. Pierre, the greatest welterweight in the sport today. The same BJ Penn who lost to both St. Pierre and Hughes consecutively the last time he was at 170.

So the ufc feels the best p4p fighter in the world was not title-shot worthy, while Penn, who couldn't even beat Hughes at 170, is ushered into immediate title contention.

that may be true but i think we can all agree that Penn is a MUCH different fighter now than he was when he lost to GSP the first time.

bayonetxwork

10/21/08 8:08:13PM

I think if Penn were to win, it would be a good idea to set up an interim champ in both divisions that way we could see "title action" in both divisions but have breaks between seeing Penn destroy whoever they throw at him in each division.

cheesy-maggot

10/21/08 9:26:16PM

Posted by Franklinfan47

Anderson Silva, the man who the ufc has been preaching as the p4p best fighter in the world moves up in weight and fights James Irvin. While being a fighter I like, Irvin is a gatekeeper at best.

BJ Penn, a fighter I currently have ranked as the fourth p4p fighter in the world, moves up in weight and gets an immediate title shot against George St. Pierre, the greatest welterweight in the sport today. The same BJ Penn who lost to both St. Pierre and Hughes consecutively the last time he was at 170.

So the ufc feels the best p4p fighter in the world was not title-shot worthy, while Penn, who couldn't even beat Hughes at 170, is ushered into immediate title contention.

hmmmmm.

I think GSP will beat Penn once again, so this doesnt bother me all that much, but there is the concern as previously stated that if Penn does win, the title fight process in ww and lw will be considerably delayed, which would be unfortunate as people complain theres not enough title fights as it is.

Anderson probably could have fought for the title, but HE said he didn't want that, he said that belt was for Lyoto. I see no problem with it if GSP doesn't mind it either.

Tein_Lung

10/21/08 9:39:24PM

Posted by Franklinfan47

that may be true but i think we can all agree that Penn is a MUCH different fighter now than he was when he lost to GSP the first time.

GSP has improved FAR more then BJ has... and TBH GSP has been beating better fighters then BJ has

gartface

10/21/08 9:56:19PM

Posted by Biggz

Posted by Franklinfan47

BJ Penn, a fighter I currently have ranked as the fourth p4p fighter in the world, moves up in weight and gets an immediate title shot against George St. Pierre, the greatest welterweight in the sport today. The same BJ Penn who lost to both St. Pierre and Hughes consecutively the last time he was at 170.

So the ufc feels the best p4p fighter in the world was not title-shot worthy, while Penn, who couldn't even beat Hughes at 170, is ushered into immediate title contention.

that may be true but i think we can all agree that Penn is a MUCH different fighter now than he was when he lost to GSP the first time.

Pretty sure BJ beat Matt Hughes at 170 for his belt, and then got it stripped when he went to fight for K-1 Hero's. And as Cheesy-Maggot said Anderson had his fight against James Irvin as a favor to Lyoto Machida. Penn also was very close to beating GSP in their last fight, and if he had better conditioning, could have won the third round.

This is going to be a huge fight, and I don't care that it's for a title, if BJ wins the title it says he deserves it. All of the current welterweight contenders are tied up (With Koscheck fighting Alves and Yoshida in 6 weeks, Diego hurt, and Jon Fitch coming off a loss to GSP).

fonduktoe

10/22/08 2:10:48AM

the fight is taking place at 170 against gspwhy whouldn't it be for the title?if gsp could make 155 than he would have a great shot at the lw titleif you're mad about a belt being tied up than i hope you hate tuf cause that is what the show usually portends

Franklinfan47

10/22/08 12:01:36PM

Posted by gartface

Posted by Biggz

Posted by Franklinfan47

BJ Penn, a fighter I currently have ranked as the fourth p4p fighter in the world, moves up in weight and gets an immediate title shot against George St. Pierre, the greatest welterweight in the sport today. The same BJ Penn who lost to both St. Pierre and Hughes consecutively the last time he was at 170.

So the ufc feels the best p4p fighter in the world was not title-shot worthy, while Penn, who couldn't even beat Hughes at 170, is ushered into immediate title contention.

that may be true but i think we can all agree that Penn is a MUCH different fighter now than he was when he lost to GSP the first time.

Pretty sure BJ beat Matt Hughes at 170 for his belt, and then got it stripped when he went to fight for K-1 Hero's. And as Cheesy-Maggot said Anderson had his fight against James Irvin as a favor to Lyoto Machida. Penn also was very close to beating GSP in their last fight, and if he had better conditioning, could have won the third round.

This is going to be a huge fight, and I don't care that it's for a title, if BJ wins the title it says he deserves it. All of the current welterweight contenders are tied up (With Koscheck fighting Alves and Yoshida in 6 weeks, Diego hurt, and Jon Fitch coming off a loss to GSP).

Pretty sure Hughes beat Penn by tko in their rematch. And the argument that if Penn had better conditioning he could have beaten GSP is ridiculous to me. IF Henderson had better sub defense he could have beaten Silva. IF Vera had been more aggresive he could have beaten Jardine blah blah blah.

I also think to say Penn has progressed alot since he fought GSP and Hughes that last time is pointless too.....you think GSP has been sitting on the couch this whole time? He just got his jj black belt, and no where near the same fighter he was in their first fight.

Naturaldisaster

10/22/08 10:51:03PM

what has BJ done to deserve a WW title fight? He lost his last 2 fights in the WW division and now he gets a title shot at that weight class??

RhythmAndStyle

10/23/08 12:42:44PM

knowin b.j. he'll probably keep the WW and LW title if he wins..but to me he should give up the LW title and the UFC should have a LW tourney for it..that would be a better choice..much more interestin for the fans...